Nesteren Şencan Görgülü has had a lengthy career in marketing, advertisement and public relations, followed by SME consultancy. She strives to make the world a better place, as she has since her youth. She has been a member in rights-based support groups in her neighborhood and supported local initiatives in LGBTQI and female rights, the fight against poverty, and urban rights.

She has been a vegetarian and a thrifter for 25 years. Nesteren and her husband have a taste for collecting old items and reusing salvageable ones. Upon deciding to end her career journey, she began selling items that she can no longer collect at the Feriköy flea market. She observed that the market held a masculine use of language and a rude and patronizing attitude towards women. Frustrated at being the only female vendor there, she sought to find another domain. This led her to establish the Kadınlar Matinesi in 2016 in an effort to create a women-only space of solidarity.

The Kadınlar Matinesi provides a new revenue stream for vendors and cheaper prices for consumers through a model that sees women from all over Istanbul come together periodically to share a home-cooked meal, talk about their problems and support each other, and then sell their goods in an auction. As Turkey’s first and only female-oriented auction, Kadınlar Matinesi aims to open new sales channels for amateur and professional female vendors in the secondhand market. This initiative nurtures the solidarity of women, as well serving as an effective shopping medium. Its goal is to provide income opportunities to women, empower women, promote female employment and contribute to the communal economy.

Kadınlar Matinesi also supports women through organizing pop-up stores, baggage sales, shops and booths in different cultural areas, and museums as alternative revenue sources. It is a market with no competition and provides a vast ocean of opportunities for women according to Nesteren.

Nesteren Şencan Görgülü continues to raise awareness of the circular economy and makes a difference in women’s lives through Kadınlar Matinesi by providing a space for women to earn income and fostering solidarity.